Improvement in brakes for hand-operated elevators



H. SNOWDEN.

Brake for Hand Operated Elevators.

Patented May 13, 1879.

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UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

HENRY SNOWDEN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN BRAKES FOR HAND-OPERATED ELEVATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,302, dated May 13,1879 application filed April 16, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY SNOWDEN, of the city of Baltimore and State ofMaryland,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Brakes for Hand-OperatedElevators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in means for holding thebrake-lever off thebrake wheel in that class of: elevators operated byhand-power.

The brake mechanism is upon the uppermost loft or floor of the building.The checkrope which lifts the brake-lever from the wheel passes throughall the floors. The desideratum is a clutch device for attachment to thecheck-rope at each floor, adapted to be engaged with a stationaryhitchingpin or its equivalent, so that a person on any floorof thebuilding may, by drawingon the check-rope, disengage the device andapply the brake.

Figure 1 is a side view of the brake mechanism. Fig. 2 is a front viewof the clutch for brake-rope. Fig. 3 is a view of the reverse side ofsame. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of same. Fig. 5 illustrates amodification.

The letter A represents the brake-wheel; B, the weighted brake-lever,which bears on the wheel. 0 is another lever, connected to thebrake-lever at one end and at the other has attached the check-rope D,which, when drawn upon, removes the brake. The foregoing-described partsrepresent the ordinary brake mechanism of an elevator but these may beof any other construction than that shown.

E 1s a metal clutch, provided, in the present example, at one end with ahole or eye, h, for.

modification of my improvement, which operates in substantially the samemanner.

One of these clutches is attached to the rope at each floor, and ahitching-pin or its equivalent is provided. It will be seen that aclutch in engagement with a pin on any floor will, by holding the rope,keep the brake oi? the wheel, and a person at any other floor mayreadily disengage the clutch and apply the brake by simply drawing onthe rope, as the relaxing ot' the latter nnhooks the clutch.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. The combination, with thecheck-rope of an elevator-brake, ot a clutch attached to the rope aboveeach floor, and adapted, by means substantially as described, to engagewith a suitable stationary hitching device, whereby upon relaxing therope the clutch will. disengage.

2. A clutch device adapted, substantially as described, to engage with astationary hitching device, and provided with holes for attachment tothe checlorope of an elevatorbrake by passing the rope through one holeand returning it through the other, as set forth.

HENRY SNOW DEN.

Witnesses:

CHAS. B. MANN, J NO. T. MADDOX.

